Authorities have issued emergency warnings to five Mexican states after it was reported that thieves had stolen potentially deadly radioactive material, the latest such heist to strike the Latin American country.

The interior ministry issued an alert in the states of Tabasco,
Campeche, Chiapas, Oaxaca and Veracruz that a container holding
iridium-192 - a man-made radioactive element that can cause
burns, acute radiation sickness and even death - was stolen on
Monday from a truck in Cardenas, a town in southern Tabasco.

"This source is very dangerous to people if it is removed
from its container," the statement said.

The theft of the radioactive material was reported by the company
Garantia Radiografica e Ingenieria on Monday.
The ministry added the material “could cause permanent
injuries to the person who handles it or who has been in contact
with it for a brief time (minutes or hours)."

"Being close to this quantity of unprotected radioactive
material for hours or days could be fatal," the statement
warned.
Luis Felipe Puente, head of Mexico's civil protection agency,
emphasized that anybody who finds the source should establish a
30-meter perimeter around it and contact the authorities
immediately.

Mexico has been shaken by a string of incidences involving
radioactive materials.

In July 2014, a truck transporting Iridium-192 was stolen in a
Mexico City suburb. Authorities later found it abandoned not far
from the place it was taken from.

In December 2013, thieves - apparently unaware of the contents of
their heist - stole a vehicle containing medical equipment with
highly radioactive cobalt-60, a material that could be used to
produce a "dirty bomb," according to the IAEA, the UN’s
nuclear watchdog. Law enforcement officers arrested and
hospitalized five individuals involved in the incident after
recovering the dangerous material. All of the suspects survived.